


Remedial Lessons

by RisemboolRanger



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Friendship, Humour, Meeting, Romance, School, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-09
Updated: 2013-05-31
Packaged: 2017-11-24 07:12:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/631805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisemboolRanger/pseuds/RisemboolRanger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drabbles. Knox feels like he's had hard luck getting stuck with remedial Care of Magical Creatures work... But his willing and more than a little dippy tutor certainly makes the work more interesting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Remedial Lesson

“No, you can’t do that!”

“What?” Knox looked around, startled.

“You can’t give a Knarl milk!” exclaimed the curly-haired blonde who was reading Knox’s homework over his shoulder.

“I only wrote it down – I didn’t actually _do_ it,” Knox pointed out. You’d have thought he’d just tried to kick a pigeon from her reaction.

“Yeah, but if you did it in theory, then you’d do the same in practical too, right?”

There were about a million things wrong with that logic. It was one thing to just randomly write something down and another to actually do it. Writing out ‘ _today I’m going to jump off a bridge_ ’? Piece of cake. Actually doing it? That would take a lot more nerve and idiocy than it would to simply lie on paper.

But in this case, he had to admit that she did have a point. If his first thought of what to feed a Gnarl was milk, then that was most likely what he’d do if he was faced with one. But apparently, that was wrong.

Knox sighed and sat back in his chair. “What’s wrong with giving a Knarl milk then?”

“If you gave it milk, then it would attack you,” was the simple reply.

Knox raised his eyebrows. “What; it doesn’t like milk?”

“They think that if you give them milk that you’re trying to poison them. And that’s the only way to distinguish them from a normal hedgehog – by seeing their reaction if you present them with milk.”

_How did I not know this_? Knox thought to himself. No wonder he was having to take remedial Care of Magical Creatures. If he didn’t know how to tell a Knarl from a hedgehog, then he certainly wouldn’t have any hopes when it came to looking after hippogriffs or unicorns.

“So let me get this straight. I’m nice enough to feed this poor lonely ‘hedgehog’...” Knox gestured air quotes with his fingers. “And I get attacked for it?”

“Well, yeah... But the Knarl wouldn’t know that.”

How had Knox managed to get possibly the dippiest girl in their year teaching him? It was easy to tell why Emmy had said that country girl Freya Cotton was strange. His tutor hadn’t even sat down the whole time she’d been helping him – she’d just been hovering over his shoulder. But then it was still no reason to be mean to her. She had willingly offered to help him.

“You can sit down, y’know,” he pointed out. “It’s not like there’s a shortage of chairs or anything.”

The library was practically empty now. There was a group of four Gryffindors from a few years above them, who were sat in the corner, and that was it. Even Madam Pince didn’t seem to be around right now.

“Oh. Okay then,” said Freya, happily taking the seat next to him. Had she been waiting for an invitation to sit down or something?

“Okay, so I got the part about Knarls wrong,” Knox conceded. “So what about this bit here that I put about Bowtruckles?”

“No, that’s wrong too.”

Knox raised his eyebrows. He was sure that most people wouldn’t be quite so blunt about pointing out that you were wrong, but it was easy to tell that Freya wasn’t intentionally being rude. She didn’t seem to have a very good grasp on social interactions. 

Come to think of it, he’d never really seen her around with friends. No wonder she’d been so eager to help when he’d made his plea for a Care of Magical Creatures tutor.

“Alright, then where do Bowtruckles live, if it’s not under floorboards?”

“In Wiggentrees,” explained Freya. When she saw Knox’s blank look, she added, “It’s one of the most popular trees for wizards to get the right wood for making wands.”

Most of what Knox had already written needed to be corrected, but Freya patiently explained all of the answers to him and with a bit more prompting, he was able to complete the set of essay questions that he’d been given. The library was completely empty by the time he’d finished. He wasn’t likely to achieve any amazing grades in Care of Magical Creatures anytime soon, but hopefully, this would be the only remedial work he’d have to do for it.

“You’re an angel,” he said, as he finally rolled up his parchment. Freya looked surprised. She probably didn’t get complimented by people all that often. Knox felt awkward. “I mean... Thank you. I wouldn’t have gotten this done if I hadn’t had such a good tutor.”

“Um, that’s okay,” said Freya, a little embarrassed. “I like Care of Magical Creatures.”

“Wish I could say the same,” Knox said ruefully, dragging his bag up onto the desk and stuffing his homework inside. Thank god he’d never have to look at that damn thing again. “I’ll just be grateful if I don’t have to do anymore remedial work.”

“Well, if you do, I don’t mind helping again,” Freya offered.

Knox felt a little bad for her. Was it because she liked the company or that she was just always happy to help? Or even a bit of both? Either way, he felt that he hadn’t really done anything for her in return. And he’d definitely feel bad if he took advantage of this socially clueless girl’s help without giving anything back.

“It’s a Hogsmeade visit this weekend, isn’t it?” he asked suddenly.

“Err, yeah, I think so,” said Freya, confused at the abrupt subject change. “How come?”

“Do you want to go with me?” Knox suggested.

It seemed like a good solution. He could take her to the Three Broomsticks and buy her a Butterbeer or something. Or some chocolate from Honeydukes. He didn’t like leaving good deeds unpaid and it would give him something interesting to do. Freya was nice enough company, if a little ditzy. 

He hadn’t really been planning to go to Hogsmeade himself originally. Emmy had already said that she had too much homework to catch up on and he always felt like a bit of a third wheel when it was just him, Laurent and Jade. So problem solved. Well... In theory.

“You don’t have to pay me back or anything,” Freya said hastily. She clearly didn’t want to be a charity case.

“Come on, I’ve gotta do something for you,” said Knox earnestly. “And I didn’t really have anyone to go with, so I thought it could be fun.” He then gave her a cheesy smile. “Are you really gonna pass up the opportunity to spend more time with my charming self?”

His friends would have groaned if they’d heard his very poor pick-up line. And most other girls would have turned him down flat for being arrogant about it – regardless of whether he was joking or not. But Freya at least seemed to get the joke and she smiled back.

“Yeah, okay then,” she replied, more happily this time. “And maybe then we can go and try to find some Knarls and see if we can distinguish them from hedgehogs.”

Or maybe it hadn’t been such a good theory after all.


	2. Hogsmeade Weekend

When the weekend rolled round, Knox had been relieved to learn that Freya had in fact been joking about them going to find Knarls and hedgehogs to compare. She actually had more of a sense of humour than he'd expected. Though maybe she still needed to make it more clear when she _was_ joking. He'd spent the last few nights dreaming of Knarls savaging his shins because he'd mistaken them for hedgehogs and tried to feed them milk.

However, sense of humour or not, Freya was turning out to be a bit of a handful. She didn't seem very comfortable thinking for herself and chose to pass all of the decision-making onto Knox. Even something as simple as choosing what shop to check out seemed to be beyond her.

"So where do you want to go first?" Knox had asked as soon as they'd reached Hogsmeade.

"I don't mind," Freya had replied almost instantly.

"Come on, there's gotta be somewhere you want to check out. We've got all day here, so don't be afraid to speak up."

"It's okay. You choose."

So Knox had had to choose himself. He'd decided on Honeydukes. What girl wouldn't like a sweet shop? It seemed to be a good decision - Freya looked like she was in her element as she made her way around the edge of the shop, examining each individual label on the baskets of sweets.

"Where's the fun in just reading the labels? How about a little try before you buy?" Knox suggested, pointing to the row of tasters behind her.

"Are you sure we're allowed to do that?" asked Freya hesitantly.

"Positive," said Knox, pointing out the large sign saying 'testers' that was probably a little too high above Freya's eye line for her to have spotted it. She definitely didn't seem like the most observant of people.

"Oh, okay."

Knox raised his eyebrows as the first basket of sweets she went for were violet bonbons that turned your tongue purple. "Come on, you can be a bit more adventurous than that. There are plenty of muggle sweets that'll turn your tongue purple."

"Oh... I just always thought they were funny," said Freya.

Knox shrugged. "Well, in that case go nuts."

After she'd dived into the bonbons, Knox did manage to make her be a bit more adventurous and got her interested in what he personally thought were some of the better sweets. In particular, she really liked the ice mice, pepper imps and pumpkin fizz. She even picked up one of the acid pops.

"Err, maybe that's a little _too/em > adventurous," Knox cut in, taking the acid pop off her and putting it back. "That'll do a lot more to your tongue than just turning it purple."_

_"Oh, okay," Freya conceded indifferently, taking his word for it. "So is my tongue really purple now?"_

_She'd hastily finished the bonbon so that she could try more of the other sweets, but that was clearly what she was still more interested in. She stuck her tongue out. It was indeed bright purple, but to Knox's surprise, there was a glinting silver ball that stood out against the aubergine tone._

_"Whoa, hey, you have your tongue pierced!" he exclaimed._

_"Err, yeah..." said Freya, a little taken aback by his reaction. "Is that weird?"_

_"I don't know. You tell me," replied Knox, sticking his own tongue out. Sitting in the centre of it was a silver stud identical to Freya's._

_"Oh, you have yours pierced too!" Freya caught on. "It looks cool!"_

_"Right back at you," Knox grinned. He was still impressed. It wasn't that often you found a girl with her tongue pierced. It actually suited kooky Freya down to a tee. "And your tongue is indefinitely as purple as a river troll."_

_"Awesome."_

_Freya ended up buying a giant bag of sweets, filled with a mix of almost everything. She heeded Knox's warning and left out the acid pops. He also advised her to stay away from the cockroach clusters, blood-flavoured lollipops and tooth-splintering strong mints._

_"Anyone would think you'd never been to a sweet shop before," Knox commented in amusement over the size of her bag as they headed back out onto the main strip of shops._

_"Well, I've never had sweets like these," said Freya._

_"Hang on... Does that mean you've never been to Honeydukes until now?" Was that even possible? The renowned sweet shop was probably the best attraction in the whole of Hogsmeade!_

_"Actually, I've never been to Hogsmeade before," Freya admitted._

_" _What_?" Knox exclaimed incredulously. How had she never been before? This was the third Hogsmeade weekend they'd had this year. "In that case, you've gotta see everything! Where do you wanna go next?"_

_"Oh... That's okay," said Freya awkwardly. "You can choose."_

_"No, I chose last time. It's your turn," Knox prompted her._

_"Really, I don't mind," Freya insisted. "I'm orange."_

_"Err... Come again?"_

_"Oh. My mom always used to say it. It means you're neutral - you have no preference," explained Freya._

_Okay... Knox had never heard that one before. But that didn't mean she was getting out of it. "Right, let's pretend it's not about preference then. Say it's a life or death situation and you _have_ to choose where to go next."_

_"Err, okay..." said Freya nervously. She looked around quickly before pointing wildly at one of the buildings opposite. "There! The owl shop."_

_"...That's the post office."_

_"Oh." Freya took another look at it. So it was. "Then... Erm..."_

_"Okay, okay, don't hurt yourself. It's not really life or death," Knox cut in hastily. "We can check out the post office if you want. They still let you look at the owls."_

_"Okay then," agreed Freya._

_Now she was making it sound like it was his idea. You wouldn't have thought it would be so difficult for someone to choose a shop. She seemed to like the post office though. Or she a least she liked looking at the owls, like Knox had suggested._

_"I love owls," said Freya fondly. "They're so clever - it's really fascinating."_

_Knox smiled, amused. Most girls would probably use the word 'cute', rather than 'clever' or 'fascinating'. But then it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Freya Cotton wasn't most girls. "Do you have one of your own?"_

_"Well, we have a family owl," said Freya. "As well as a family cat. Then I have my toad. And my twin brother has two rats and my older brother has a dog."_

_"Wow. Sounds like you have a whole farm," Knox commented._

_"Actually, my older brother works on a farm."_

_Now that was something Knox wasn't surprised at. It was as clear as daylight that Freya was a total country girl. It made sense that at least someone in her family would have farmer roots. In fact, he would have been more surprised if she hadn't had any connection with furry farmyard friends._

_Freya's ability to decide on destinations didn't improve much throughout the morning and Knox quickly learnt that it was much easier to just choose their route around Hogsmeade himself. At least she seemed happy enough to let him take the lead._

_After they crossed over into the afternoon, Knox suggested the Three Broomsticks for a drink and a bite to eat. Freya was quite enthusiastic about the idea. "Sure, I love pub grub!" she'd exclaimed._

_They grabbed a table near the bar. It turned out that Freya was quite modern day when it came to doing things for herself. She'd insisted on buying the sweets from Honeydukes herself and she didn't want Knox to buy her a drink either. She was making it difficult for him to find a way to pay her back for tutoring him, so he casually asked what she was fancying whilst she was looking at the menu, then quickly dashed to the bar to order before she'd even had chance to get up from her seat._

_"You didn't have to do that," said Freya when Knox came back. The bartender had given them twenty minutes for their food to arrive._

_"Call me old-fashioned," replied Knox, sliding one of the Butterbeers he was carrying across the table to her. "But I think guys should do the paying."_

_"Then thanks," Freya smiled, catching the tankard. "You're actually really cool, you know."_

_"Oh. Err, thanks," said Knox, a little taken aback by the sudden compliment. "You're pretty cool yourself."_

_Freya raised her eyebrows. It was actually a little unnerving. Knox hadn't been aware she was even capable of such a sceptical expression. He had to admit there was an obvious difference between them though - the girl in the cow-print shirt with her hair clipped up in a wild fashion, and the obviously more stylish guy with the piercings and bleach-blonde dreads. He could understand her expression, giving how broadly they were using the word 'cool' here._

_"Most people think I'm weird," said Freya. So she did realise what everyone thought of her. "I know I'm not really like everyone else, but I can't really help it. That's just me," she added with a shrug._

_"And that's why you're cool," said Knox simply. "You're just different. Why would you want to be like everyone else?"_

_He couldn't help but feel that maybe he was going to some lengths just to return a favour. It was true that Freya was definitely unusual - there was no doubt about it - but it didn't mean that he wanted her to beat herself up for it. It didn't change the fact that she'd been more than happy to help him out, through no gain of her own. And truthfully, he'd actually been enjoying himself today. Despite having to take on all of the decision-making._

_"Really?" asked Freya uncertainly. "Nobody else seems to think so."_

_"Well, forget everyone else; my opinion's more important," Knox joked. "You're just quirky - that's always a good thing. And they say eccentricities are signs of a genius."_

_Freya actually laughed at that. It was the first time she'd laughed all day. "I don't think that's the case somehow."_

_"You never know. There could be some genius ability hidden in there somewhere. I should know - I'm a genius too. And we can always recognise fellow genii," said Knox lightly. "So why don't you tell me more about the inner workings of Freya Cotton?"_

_Freya giggled. He was actually quite strange as well. Well, his sense of humour was anyway. She cast around, trying to think of something interesting she could offer. "Well, I live on a boat..."_

_"Oh. Okay..." Knox hadn't been expecting that. He then caught her smiling at the look on his face. "Wait, are you pulling my leg?"_

_"I'm actually not," Freya laughed. "But your reaction was still pretty funny."_

_Knox grinned. "A boat, huh? That's definitely one I've never heard before."_

_" I know it's not really the norm," Freya agreed. She shrugged again. "But I've always liked it. The canals are fun and you definitely keep fit working the locks all the time."_

_Knox could definitely imagine Freya right at home along the canal side, no doubt trying to make friends with all the wildlife. He couldn't help but laugh. "You're really something else."_

_"Because I live on a boat?" asked Freya, confused._

_"Let's just say it's an interesting anecdote to add to your repertoire," Knox chuckled. "And it sounds like a pretty nice way to live. I think I'd be quite happy on a boat myself."_

_"Well, you can always join us one of the days in the summer," Freya offered without thinking. She then realised that it was probably a little fast to be suggesting anything of the sort. "Um. I mean... You don't have to or anything. It was, err, just an idea..."_

_Knox was a little taken aback by it, but actually quite flattered. "Sure, why not?" he said casually. "I reckon I can see myself on a canal, picking some locks."_

_"Um, actually the locks are like gates, so you have to crank them; not pick them," Freya pointed out._

_Knox smiled. "It looks like you may have to play teacher again."_

_"You should be fine. Opening locks is at least a lot easier than distinguishing Knarls from hedgehogs."_


End file.
